Roy
Bourgeois, M.M. (Maryknoll priest); Founder and
Co-Director of the SOA Watch
Biographical
Information
Born: Lutcher, Louisiana, 1938.
Graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana,
Degree in Geology
After college was a Naval Officer for four years - 2
years at sea, one year at a NATO station in Europe, and 1
year of shore duty in Vietnam. Recipient of Purple Heart
Award.
After military service, entered seminary of Maryknoll
Missionary Order.
Ordained a Catholic priest in 1972.
Worked with poor of Bolivia for five years. Arrested in
Bolivia and forced to leave the country for his defense
of the poor.
In 1980 became involved in El Salvador after four U.S.
churchwomen were raped and killed by Salvadoran soldiers.
Two of the nuns were his friends.
Has been an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in
Central America over the past 15 years. Four of these
years have been spent in U.S. federal prisons for
nonviolent protests against the training of Latin
American soldiers at the School of the Americas, located
at Fort Benning, Georgia. Each year the SOA trains
hundreds of soldiers from Latin America in combat skills
- all paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
In 1991 founded the School of Americas Watch, located
just outside the main entrance of Fort Benning. In
addition to the Georgia office, full time offices are
staffed in Washington and Philadelphia. Hundreds of
affiliate offices are also located around the country
which inform the general public, Congress and the media
about the implications of the training at the SOA and the
human right abuses that have resulted.
In 1995 worked on a documentary film about the School of
Americas called "School of Assassins" which
received an Academy Award nomination.
In September 1998 - Released from federal prison after
serving six month sentence for protest against the SOA.
In December 1998 - Testified in Madrid before Spanish
Judge Baltasar Garzon seeking the extradition of Chile's
ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet.
From 1999 to Present. Continues to travels extensively
giving talks at colleges and groups around the country
advocating for peace, justice and the closure of the
School of the Americas (SOA) - renamed the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC).
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